


Heart's Desire

by mykkila09



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Curtis being a dick, Keith trying to do the right thing, M/M, Romance, no beta we die like men or Lotor, season 8? what season 8, the war is over, we hate Curtis in this house, we not acknowledging season 8
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-27
Updated: 2020-09-27
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:35:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26671507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mykkila09/pseuds/mykkila09
Summary: Excerpt:“Yeah, you,” Shiro clarified. “After everything we’ve been through, we deserve to be happy, and I can’t see my life any happier than with you.”Purple eyes searched grey. “You really mean that.”Filling Sheith Prompt Party, number 86: Keith is avoiding Shiro after he leaves the team. Shiro wants to know why.
Relationships: Keith/Shiro (Voltron)
Comments: 15
Kudos: 120
Collections: Sheith Prompt Party 2020





	Heart's Desire

**Author's Note:**

> My first Sheith, and Voltron, story. encouraged to join this prompt party and decided to give it a go. Had about three ideas for this prompt alone but two of them, the more I worked on (outline, etc.) the more they started turning into multi-chapters, so I went with this idea for my first dip in writing for this pairing and fandom :)

The war was finally over, and the Paladins could finally take a breather. They had been going nonstop ever since that fateful day when Shiro had crashed landed back on Earth after escaping captivity and they had found the Blue Lion.

It had been a rollercoaster of nonstop events, battle after battle; defeating Zarkon, finding the Blade of Marmora, and the final battle between Sendak and Haggar.

And now, now it was all over.

Both Sendak and Haggar were dead. The Empire was dismantled and in disarray. And the Paladins could _breathe._

~…~

Sitting in his office, Shiro heaved a sigh and leaned back in his chair, rubbing his neck as he did so. It had been a long day and he was tired, but he wasn’t done yet, so he couldn’t stop.

His mind drifted, as it did at times, to the others and he wondered what they were doing now. Pidge was probably with her family, or Hunk, working on some new technology or upgrades; Hunk was either with his family, with Pidge or in the Garrison cafeteria (the Yellow Paladin was determined to bring the Garrison food up to his standards now that he had authority to do so);

A frown settled on his brow as he realized he had no idea about Keith. Initially, he knew that Keith and Krolia had headed out to the shack and had made plans to build a house next to it, one that would be big enough to house multiple guests, i.e. the Paladins and Blades of Marmora (also doubling somewhat as a mini headquarters), but other than a few conversations and offers to help in the first few days, Shiro was realizing that he hadn’t seen his best friend much over the

Wondering if he was over thinking things, Shiro reached out to the Paladins. What he heard had him worried; all of them had seen or heard from Keith more than a few times over the last few weeks. It was only Shiro who hadn’t seen and spoken to Black Paladin.

After saying goodbye to Hunk, who’d been the last one he’d call, Shiro sank back into his chair.

Keith had spoken to or seen the others.

But not him.

A quick glance at the time showed that it was still a bit early in the evening, so he quickly dialed Keith.

He answered after a few rings.

_“Hey Shiro. What’s up?”_

“Hey Keith,” he replied, “Not much. I was just wondering if you wanted to meet up later for a late dinner, or maybe take the hoverbikes out this Friday?”

There was a pause.

“Keith?”

_“I’m here. I’m sorry I can’t.”_

Shiro deflated. “Oh.”

_“It’s just I’m helping Kolivan and mom with some Blades,” Keith explained._

“Oh! Oh, well, raincheck then?”

_“Yeah, raincheck,” Keith replied back._

The door to his office opened, “Shiro, there’s some—

The man stopped when he noticed Shiro on the phone.

Shiro held up a hand. “One sec. Hey,”

_“I heard,” Keith told him, flinching when he recognized the voice on the other end._

“Talk later?” Shiro asked.

_“Sure,” came the reply._

Seconds later, both hung up and Shiro turned his attention to the officer before him. It felt good to hear Keith’s voice, but despite getting an explanation, he couldn’t help the feeling that there was something more.

He would have to find out when they spoke later.

~…~

That “later” never came.

A few weeks passed and, in that time, Shiro had tried to set up dinners and outings with Keith, just time for the two of them to hang out because he missed his best friend.

But every time, Keith would have an excuse ready as to why he couldn’t join him or why he had to cancel.

It didn’t take long for Shiro to realize that Keith was avoiding him.

And he didn’t know _why._

He’d thought things were good between them. Had even thought that at some point, things would be _more_ and that they were on the same page.

So, he couldn’t understand what was going on.

Had he done or said something to Keith?

Another week passed and after another round of either missed calls or excuses, Shiro had had enough.

It was a weekend and he’d made sure his schedule was cleared until Monday. Some had tried to protest, but he’d remained firm, and well, after everything that had happened including the Garrison’s own part in it, no one was willing to fight him on the request.

Well, one of the officers had tried to persuade him, but that didn’t work out.

Shiro was determined, and when he was determined, hardly anything would change his mind.

He needed to talk to Keith. To find out what was going on because it was feeling more and more like he was losing his best friend.

And that…couldn’t happen. He would _not_ let that happen.

~…~

Keith was busy at his newly rebuilt home, sitting on the couch with Kosmo sitting next to him, head in his lap while he read.

He could hear his mother and Kolivan in the kitchen and he let the sound of their voices wash over him as he relaxed further into the couch.

Kosmo perked up just seconds before he heard a hoverbike.

Curious, he put the PADD down, got up and walked over to the door, opening it, only to see Shiro parking the bike near the garage. He watched as the other man grabbed the bag off the bike before making his way to the house.

Kosmo took that chance to slip by Keith and bounded over to Shiro.

“Hey boy,” Shiro greeted the space wolf with a laugh before he looked up at Keith. “Hey.”

“Hey,” Keith returned, brows furrowing. “What are you doing here?”

“We haven’t seen each other for a while now,” Shiro answered as he stepped up to the door. “I missed my best friend, so I cleared my schedule for the weekend.”

“Oh,” Keith was stunned. “Well, what about—

“Is that Shiro’s voice I hear?” came Krolia’s voice from inside just seconds before the woman herself appeared. She smiled warmly at the former Paladin and Captain. “Hello Shiro.”

Shiro returned the smile. “Hello ma—Krolia.”

“What brings you by?” Krolia asked.

“Keith,” Shiro explained. “I realized we haven’t had the chance to just hang out and I wanted to fix that.”

Smiling, Krolia directed Shiro in the house and to one of the guest bedrooms. When he disappeared up the stairs, she turned to her son.

“I thought you said he was busy this weekend, that that was why you were not with him?”

Keith frowned. “I thought he was. Something must’ve changed.”

Krolia hummed before turning back to join Kolivan.

~…~

Later that evening, Shiro saw Keith sitting underneath the tree and walked out to join him.

It was time to have that talk.

He sat down next to Keith and things were quiet between them for a while before Shiro spoke up.

“You’ve been avoiding me.”

It wasn’t a question. Just a statement, a fact, but it still made Keith flinch slightly away.

“I haven’t,” Keith denied, “I’ve just been busy with my mom and Kolivan and helping the Blades, and you’ve been busy too.”

Shiro turned to look at him. “That doesn’t explain how you’ve still seen or talked to the others, but not me. Do you know how much it hurt to realize that you were actually avoiding me?!” he questioned. “You saw or spoke to the others but not me! Why?!”

“Shiro…”

“What did I do Keith?” Shiro cut him off, his voice cracking with hurt.

And it was that hurt that had Keith deflating. “You didn’t do anything Shiro.”

The look of disbelief and skepticism had Keith sighing. “It wasn’t…it wasn’t you…not really.”

The look became confusion and Keith knew he had to tell him the real reason why he’d been avoiding him.

“I just…I didn’t want to mess things up for you and Curtis.”

“Who?” Shiro asked, brows furrowing together. “What do you mean mess things up? Who the hell is Curtis?”

Keith frowned at him. “The…the guy you’ve been seeing?”

Shiro was completely shocked. “The guy I’ve been what?!”

“He’s a Garrison office?” Keith told him, “Was part of the Atlas’ crew? I met him outside your office weeks ago and he told me you guys had just agreed to go out and was taking things slow.”

Shiro gritted his teeth. “Never mind the fact that you think I’d start dating someone and not tell you about it, that can’t be it.”

Keith looked away. “Well…”

“Keith?” Shiro prompted. “What else did he say to you?”

Keith didn’t want to. It was obvious that he didn’t want to, but he also knew by the set of Shiro’s jaw that he wasn’t going to let it go. So, with a sigh, he told him.

Shiro clenched his jaw and his hand curled into fists as he listened to Keith explain why he’d been avoiding him.

Apparently, he’d been coming to his office when he was stopped by that same officer who’d ended up telling Keith, _lying_ , that the two had just started a relationship and needed space and time.

Then, Curtis had gone a step further by using the war and even the Kerberos mission to manipulate and guilt Keith into staying away, claiming that Shiro had been through enough and he was finally able to do something normal and didn’t Keith think Shiro deserved time away from the reminders of all he’d been through and to do something normal and that didn’t remind him of the war?

By the time Keith was done explaining, Shiro felt like a ball of rage.

How _dare_ he?

Who gave him the right to interfere with his and Keith’s relationship?

When he returned to the office, he would deal with Curtis, but for now, there was something more important.

‘Keith, I want you to listen to me,” Shiro started, making sure he held eye contact to convey just how serious he was. “Are you listening?”

Keith nodded. “Yeah.”

“Good,” Shiro continued, “Curtis lied to you.”

Keith frowned, “Wha-

“He and I are not, have never, and will never be in a relationship,” Shiro continued.

“Oh.” Came Keith’s reply. He hadn’t even considered that, that Curtis had been lying to him. Why had it been so easy for him to believe what the other man had said?

“And even if, _if,_ I’d been in a relationship with someone,” Shiro told him, “do you think I’d just drop you? Cut you out of my life?”

“I thought I was doing the best thing for you,” Keith answered softly, gaze turned away. “I’ve always wanted what’s best for you and I thought my staying away was me doing that.”

“It wasn’t,” Shiro told him firmly. “I’ve missed you Keith. And I’ve spent the last few weeks racking my brain wondering what I did wrong that you didn’t want to spend time with me.”

Keith hunched in a bit on himself. He’d never intended for Shiro to feel that way.

It was silent between them for a while.

Then…

“Why didn’t you just come out and tell me?” Shiro asked. “I mean, if you thought I was with someone, why didn’t you just tell me that why you were staying away?”

“I don’t know,” Keith replied. “I guess I just…”

“Just what?”

“I didn’t want to see the two of you together,” Keith finally answered, deciding to be truthful this time.

“You were jealous?” Shiro questioned, surprise on his face and in his voice.

“Yeah,” came the reluctant yet truthful reply.

Heart soaring, Shiro reached and gently turned Keith to face him. “There was no reason to be jealous…at all. But I’m glad you were because it makes this easier.”

Brows furrowed, Keith stared at him. “What do you mean?”

Shiro took a deep breath and then slowly released. “I’ve been wanting to ask you out on a date, like a date-date.”

“You…want to be with me?” Keith’s heart was pounding in his chest as he felt tentative hope and joy bloom within. He’d always felt strongly about Shiro, but for a long time, he’d just assume it was brotherly. It wasn’t until he’d spoken to his mom that he’d realized that what he felt for the Atlas captain was not familial in any way but romantic. He hadn’t been sure of how Shiro had felt about him, not completely, and had made up his mind to do something when he’d ran into Curtis outside of Shiro’s office that day.

Hearing that his best friend, and newly realized love of his life, was starting a relationship with someone else had left him reeling. He had thought he’d lost his chance. It was the biggest part of why he’d started avoiding Shiro; he hadn’t wanted to deal with seeing him happy with someone else.

But now, here was Shiro telling him it was all wrong. He was saying what he’d hoped and wanted to hear.

“Yeah, you,” Shiro clarified. “After everything we’ve been through, we deserve to be happy, and I can’t see my life any happier than with you.”

Purple eyes searched grey. “You really mean that.”

“I mean it,” Shiro nodded. “So, what do you say? Will you go out with me?”

A bright smile bloomed on Keith’s face as he threw himself at Shiro, kissing him as an answer.

Later, Shiro would deal with Curtis and the mess he had caused, but right now, now he was enjoying the man in his arms and the anticipation of things to come.


End file.
